NetForum - Message Replies

Forum: Idea Exchange

Topic: Closing Encounters

Posted by: Paul Savage
Date posted: Mon Feb 16 6:32:18 EST 1998
Subject: "I Have To Sell My Car Myself First."
Message:
What do you do when your customer tells you this after getting the first figure on their trade-in from the manager?

Steve Bobulsky Subject: sell trade myself
Reply Posted by: (stevebob@teleport.com )
Date Posted: Mon Feb 16 8:03:31 EST 1998
Message:
Seems like the best thing to do is to start asking questions.

The customer is trying to reassert control- he either a)feels like if he balks, you'll sharpen your pencil, or b)is getting cold feet now that the realities of depreciation are setting in concretely.

Ask him what advantages he sees to selling his own trade first. Agree with the good parts of their idea, and then show them how, in the long run, they're going to spend a lot of time and effort for a very small absolute dollar return.

Get the customer back on track by contrasting the "long sad march" of selling their rig to the "joy that could be theirs within a few hours" by allowing you to take all that grief off their shoulders.

Heck... spot deliver! ;-)

Michael Hargrove Subject: sell trade myself
Reply Posted by: (mhargrove@bluinc.com )
Date Posted: Mon Feb 16 8:04:42 EST 1998
Message:
Here's some of the questions Steve is referring to:

"Well, you could do that but let me ask you a few questions. Can you finance it? Can you guarantee it? How will you recondition it? Can you take a trade-in? Do you know how to screen for serious buyers? Do you know how to tell if someone is a qualified buyer? Do you really want to compete in a market that is so competitive that it allows you to get the huge discount you just got on the new car? Are you ready for all the calls you'll receive late at night from your ad in the paper? Are you ready for the expense of an ad in the paper? Do you really want your family exposed to all those strangers knocking on your door? Isn't worth a few dollars to avoid all that? Let's wrap this up so you can avoid any more hassle and start enjoying your new car. Do you want it registered in your name or both names?"

Subject: I need to sell my own car first
Reply Posted by: David Sofi (davesofi@bigfoot.com )
Organization: Quaid Imports
Date Posted: Fri Apr 2 1:58:06 EST 1999
Message:
Very good answers! I will use them myself. For Sales consultants in California, we also have the DMV helping us out by requiring sellers, if so asked, to provide a smog certificate no more than 90 days old. Most customers mistakenly think that since they had the car smogged the last time it was registered (or the time before that), they have a "current" certificate. The question is: Are you sure your trade will pass a smog test today without any extra mechanical fix-ups that cost you out of pocket?

Subject: Sell My Trade First....
Reply Posted by: Michael Hargrove (mhargrove@bluinc.com )
Date Posted: Fri Apr 2 12:14:53 EST 1999
Message:
That's a good point to make with your customers.
We could bring up the issue of necessary repairs not only to smog the trade but simply to get it ready to sell. Like this; "If YOU were going to buy this car, wouldn't you want the windshield fixed? Would you want to pay $XXXX.00 and then have to replace the worn tires and pay to fix the dents too?"
It very well be more cost effective (both $$ and in hassels) to sell it to the dealership instead.

Subject: Sell my own trade
Reply Posted by: Ken Nix (kpnix@hotmail.com )Herzog-Meier
Date Posted: Sun Jun 18 9:17:41 2000
Message:
If you want the trade or need the trade I tell a true story that happened to my customer in Myrtle Point OR.. He was insistant that he sell his trade himself. So he did. A week later the redneck logger he sold it to came back because the transmission went out. My customer spent the next 2 weeks in the hospital suffering from injuries inflicted by a baseball bat. Sounds extreme? When we are on a demo or at work we have strength in numbers. Your customer doesn't, you may not just take in a good trade, but save them from an unexpected mishap. (if they sell it theirself, THEY have to demo the prospective buyers. P.S. Whatever you do, don't call their vehicle a trade to them. Car slang around your customer is unprofessional AND it will cost YOU gross. Ask if they are planning to sell their vehicle to the dealership.

Subject: Customers selling their own trades
Reply Posted by: Chris Parra
Date Posted: Mon Jun 19 8:43:28 2000
Message:
You're right Ken. I do something very similar (though the example I use is perhaps not so severe) with a great bit of success. The fact is most of the customers who tell me they want to sell their car themselves are simply trying to negotiate a better deal. They don't REALLY want to go through the hassle of selling it. I just don't panic and remind them of the hardships of marketing on their own and then see if I can get another offer from them.

Subject: Selling it thensleves
Reply Posted by: Joe Keekley
Date Posted: Sun Feb 24 19:24:39 2002
Message:
In my state, when you buy a vehicle, you pay sales tax on the trade difference, not the entire purchase price. This means that people who want to sell their owqn trade will have to sell it for at least 7% more than the trade allowance, not to mention the expense of an ad, answering calls, etc.

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